But both are buried in the same dust, both eaten by the same maggots.
Parallel translations
- WEB They lie down alike in the dust. The worm covers them.
- KJV They shall lie down alike in the dust, and the worms shall cover them.
- BSB But together they lie down in the dust, and worms cover them both.
- NKJV They lie down alike in the dust, And worms cover them.
- NASB “Together they lie down in the dust, And maggots cover them.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Both the prosperous and the miserable end up the same in death, lying in the dust covered by worms. Death levels all earthly distinctions.
Overview
Job concludes his contrast by noting the great equalizer: both kinds of people share the same grave. This echoes Ecclesiastes 9:2-3. Yet Scripture does not leave us there; the resurrection of Christ (1 Cor 15:20-22) breaks death's apparent finality, promising that what is sown in the dust will be raised, and that God's justice extends beyond the grave.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- Eccl 9:2All things come alike to all. There is one event to the righteous and to the wicked; to the good, to the clean, to the unclean, to him who sacrifices, and to him who doesn’t sacrifice. As is the good, so is the sinner; he who takes an oath, as he who fears an oath.
- Isa 14:11Your pomp is brought down to Sheol, with the sound of your stringed instruments. Maggots are spread out under you, and worms cover you.
- Job 20:11His bones are full of his youth, but youth shall lie down with him in the dust.
- Job 3:18–19There the prisoners are at ease together. They don’t hear the voice of the taskmaster.
- Ps 49:14They are appointed as a flock for Sheol. Death shall be their shepherd. The upright shall have dominion over them in the morning. Their beauty shall decay in Sheol, far from their mansion.
- Job 19:26After my skin is destroyed, then in my flesh shall I see God,
- Job 24:20The womb shall forget him. The worm shall feed sweetly on him. He shall be no more remembered. Unrighteousness shall be broken as a tree.
- Job 17:14If I have said to corruption, ‘You are my father;’ to the worm, ‘My mother,’ and ‘my sister;’
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Job's cry for a mediator who can lay his hand on both God and man, and his confidence that 'my Redeemer lives' and will stand on the earth, reaches forward to Jesus the living Redeemer.
How Job 21:26 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.